1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to hoppers and reduction devices using the same, and particularly, to a hopper and a reduction device convenient for loading or unloading articles.
2. Description of Related Art
Presently, in industrial production, a material is usually needed to be refined using thermal reduction in a reduction device. The Pidgeon method is usually adopted for refining metal.
In the Pidgeon method, a mixture of a finely ground mineral containing certain metal elements and a finely ground reductant is usually provided. The mixture is formed into small dense briquettes. The briquettes are disposed into a vacuum reduction pot. The vacuum reduction pot is heated to a high temperature, and a metal steam is generated by a reduction reaction of the mineral and the reductant in the small dense briquettes. Then, the metal steam is conducted to a crystallizer disposed at the opening of the reduction pot to be condensed. In known art, the reduction pot is usually cylindrical, and heat is usually transmitted to the briquettes through walls of the reduction pot, when the briquettes are loaded into the reduction pot and heated. Though the briquettes contacting the walls of the reduction pot can be heated quickly, it is relatively hard to heat the briquettes in the center of the reduction pot to the reduction temperature. The reason may be that the thermal conductivity between the briquettes is relatively low, and it is difficult for the heat to be conducted from one briquette to other adjacent briquettes. In the art, it usually takes about 8 hours to 12 hours between loading the briquettes and completing the reduction. Thus, the reduction pot has low efficiency. Furthermore, after the reduction reaction, some residue is left in the reduction pot. The present reduction pot is heavy in weight, and it is difficult to move the reduction pot, remove residue, and load the briquettes.
What is needed, therefore, is to provide a hopper and a reduction device using the same, into which it is convenient to load raw material and from which it is easy to remove residue.